Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Chilly Approach to Christmas

Funny how all the other things you need to do get pushed aside when Mother Nature decides to show us who is boss. We aren't having power outages or trees broken by ice, but the temperature has been hovering around zero for several days now.

At our house we've been busy bringing in wood and checking the fire every hour to make sure the house stays warm. Our furnace quit, so maintaining the fire was top priority until today - when my husband figured out how to fix it.

It's still a priority for me, however, because the wood heat feels so much better. And silly as it sounds, I enjoy the exercise of going out to the wood pile and bringing in a few loads every day. There's something really "down to earth" about that exercise.

But... I'm really glad the furnace is working again, because I do want to get out of the house for a few hours and finish Christmas shopping. That means leaving 3 very spoiled canines home alone for the day. Since that upsets them - especially Ralph, my husband's dog - I started dosing their water bowl with "Home Alone" tonight.

Animals can sure push us around - A friend called today and said she had tried bringing an "outdoor cat" into the house because of the cold. She made a bed for the cat in the laundry room - gave it food, water, and a litter box. But boy did that cat object. Now her outdoor bed is filled with woolen blankets so she can burrow down and stay warm. I told my friend that if she gets an idea to do that again, to come and get some Feel5ive from me... to help the cat settle down and go to sleep instead of spending the night trying to get out.

Hmmm... my husband gets really wound up going into busy stores and driving in heavy traffic. Think I'll give him a dose before we leave home tomorrow...